Taking your iPhone, Android phone abroad? Avoid data roaming charges

Top tips to save data roaming charges on iPhone and Android

It’s holiday season again - at least for parents and school-age children – so it’s time to pack your suitcase and go on vacation. [Updated July 2, 2014: Data roaming charges dropped in EU.]

If you’ve read recent scare stories of massive mobile data roaming charges – where naïve users have racked up thousands of pounds on their mobile bills just by browsing the internet or downloading a few files or email attachments – then you might be worried about taking your iPhone or Android smartphone abroad with you.

Recent reports suggest that the average smartphone user gets through nearly 500MB of data a month. With data roaming charges of £7.50/MB outside Europe you can see how the bills can rapidly add up...

(Roaming is the word used to describe using your mobile phone on another network for a short period, while still being billed by your existing provider. Your mobile phone number remains the same while roaming. When you are roaming on another network the temporary mobile phone company will bill your usual mobile phone company for calls you make while roaming on their network.)

From July 2014 European mobile roamers will see a big cut in the cost of roaming, with data charges dropping 55 percent or more compared to last summer. In at least six EU member states, consumers can choose mobile phone plans where roaming fees have been removed entirely. Data roaming prices have dropped 95 percent since 2010. Calls and text messages will also be at least 20 percent cheaper.

Calling a UK landline or mobile from any EU country will now cost a maximum of 18p per minute. Receiving a call will cost 4.8p. Sending a text will cost 5p and data will be charged at 19.6p per MB. Previously calls cost 24p per minute, texts were 7p and data was a wallet-walloping 46p per MB.

It is hoped that roaming fees in the EU will be abolished altogether next year. The European Parliament has voted to ban roaming charges from 15 December 2015.

3 or Three or whatever it's calling itself these days is a carrier that has gone further than most in helping reduce its users roaming charges. Three’s customers travelling in the US will now automatically roam onto the networks of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, which, like most of the world, use the GSM network standard. Three offers the same 'Feel At Home' terms in these territories: Ireland, Australia, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark), Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Macau.

Apple’s iPhone and the latest Android smartphones can’t be beaten for mobile Internet access. So here’s some advice for iPhone and Android users heading out on holiday or abroad for some other reason. Taking your smartphone abroad needn't cost the earth.

Your unlimited data and Wi-Fi allowances only apply to usage in the UK.

O2 currently charges 19.6p per MB within the EU, and £6 per MB outside the EU. Making calls in the US to UK costs £1.10/min, and receiving calls 90p/min. Sending texts is 40p per message. O2’s Data Abroad Bolt On increases your standard data limit to 200MB for £120 per month. O2 offers an O2 Travel deal where you'll only be charged £1.99 for the days that you use data in Europe. There's no upper usage limit, but “traffic management steps” apply. When you make or receive calls between countries in Europe, there's a connection charge of 50p, then it's free to talk for up to 60 minutes.

Vodafone charges 19.6p per MB in the EU; for the rest of the world it's £3 for each MB up to 5MB, then £15 for every 5MB after that. You can opt to take your UK minutes, texts and internet to EU countries for £3 a day with Vodafone EuroTraveller. (Until August 31, 204, there's a deal that cuts this EuroTraveller cost to £2.) You’re automatically opted into a monthly spend limit of £42.50 (ex VAT) both in its Europe Zone and Rest of World Zone. Outside of Europe you can opt in to Vodafone's Data Traveller for £5 a day for 25MB for every day you go online. Be warned: a smartphone can eat 25MB of data pretty quickly. Making calls in the US to UK costs £1.35/min, and receiving calls £1/min. Sending texts is 35p per message.

Orange charges 19.6p per MB within the EU, but the highest rest-of-the-world rate is £8 per MB. Making calls in the US to UK costs £1.20/min, and receiving calls £1.20/min. Sending texts is 40p per message.

3 (Three) sadly isn't free. But it looks cheaper than the others in some countries as it charges just 10p per MB in France and the US. Mostly though it's near the now standard sub-20p rate at 19.8p in the EU, and £3 per MB outside the EU. Watch out though as prices fluctuate quite wildly according to its website: 10p/MB in the USA and Australia, but £6/MB in New Zealand. See Three's destination charges page.

Using your EE phone abroad: It's a little more complicated with EE. If you're on a 4GEE or T-Mobile plan you can't use your data abroad unless you buy an add-on or Booster. If you try to use the internet on your EE phone or tablet when you're abroad, you're directed to a screen where you can buy roaming data add-ons. With EE you have to buy a roaming add-on before you can use the internet while you're away. EE has so many roaming add-on options it's confusing. If you have a 4G EE phone plan with roaming included you can pay 50p per 2MB for 24 hours, up to 1GB for 30 days for £25 within Europe. If you don’t have roaming included in your EE 4G phone plan 3MB costs £1, up to 200MB for £35 in Europe. It all depends on where you are, with EE. If you're in Japan an add-on costs a staggering £195 for 50MB. 10MB costs £50.

Opening an email that includes a picture taken by a 5-megapixel camera or downloading a three-minute video from YouTube takes about 2MB of data. Vodafone stimates that 20 mobile-friendly web pages uses about 1MB – but remember that the majority of websites are not mobile friendly.

Top 10 Tips for avoiding data roaming charges abroad

Tip 1: Use Wi-Fi

Where possible only browse or download when using your Apple iPhone’s or Android's Wi-Fi connection. Users are not billed for data downloaded over Wi-Fi. The only charge might be if a particular Wi-Fi hotspot charges for access, and you should be informed of that before you can start using the connection.

Tip 2: Mind your email

It’s OK to check your email, as attachments aren’t downloaded until you tell the iPhone to do so by selecting that attachment. That said, the text in the email is downloaded, so long lists of messages may indeed start to cost more than you’d expect.

Tip 3: Check your settings

Don't panic. Apple has made things easier for you. Keen to ensure that its iPhone customers do not unintentionally incur data costs, Apple switches off data roaming as a default. This means that none of the iPhone applications that use data (maps, email, web browser, etc) will use a data connection while abroad. The user needs to consciously switch this on and is warned at that point that costs may be incurred.

Tip 4: Get a data bundle

You may be able to sign up to a flat-rate or capped data package (aka Bolt On or Add On), where you pay a fixed amount each month for using the mobile internet. Contact your network operator to find out what they offer. These can be hard to get your head around. make sure to check they work for your travel destination. Also see the rates listed above.

Tip 5: Go to mobile-friendly websites only

An increasing number of websites now have specific sites where their pages are specially optimised for mobile phone, thus making them lighter on the megabytes. PC Advisor, for example, has its own mobile website. Others include BBC News Mobile and The Guardian Mobile.

Most mobile websites have a very similar address to the desktop (or 'fat') site. Try replacing the 'www' with 'm' or 'mobile'; or replace the '.co.uk' or '.com' with '.mobi', as with Microsoft's mobile site.

Tip 6: Switch SIM card

Another way to avoid high roaming charges is to switch your SIM cards.

UK company Dataroam has a range of pay-as-you-go and 30-day plans that it claims could save users “up to 90 percent” on international roaming charges, with pre-paid data SIMs starting at £19.99.

But first the smartphone needs to be “unlocked” from its home network.

(Most UK phone networks lock their handsets to prevent consumers using alternative SIMs, and so force people to pay their high rates.)You can ask your network carrier to unlock your phone, but this isn’t always an easy request, as you might have guessed.

Alternatively there are plenty of small local independent mobile phone stores and online unlocking specialists who can unlock your phone for you. Unlocking your smartphone shouldn’t cause any problems either in the UK or abroad.

Tip 7: Set up a MiFi

If a phone can’t be unlocked you could create your own personal (secure and fast) WiFi hotspot with a MiFi device, which will allow you to run up to five WiFi-enabled devices from that point – ideal for group or family trips abroad.

A Mifi is a wireless modem that emits a Wi-Fi signal that devices can connect to, ensuring access to the web for more than one person.

Dataroam sells a Mifi for £89.99 that uses one of the company’s data SIMs that work out much cheaper than standard network rates abroad. Set up the Mifi as a wireless hotspot, tell your friends/family the password, and you’re up and running.

Tip 8: Compress data

There’s an app for that, right? Correct. The Onavo Extend iPhone app (there’s also an Android Onavo app) promises to give you the ability to do up to five times more with your current data plan without additional fees.

Onavo Extend also provides a breakdown of your mobile data usage, showing you how much data is being consumed by each app and so allowing you to make better informed data usage choices. Onavo Extend compresses your data so that you can do more with your mobile device. It also reduces roaming charges by providing a leaner version of the web.

Tip 9: Download maps offline

When you’re away from home you actually need data more than you do normally, so the high data charges are doubly frustrating. Step off the plane/train/automobile and the first thing we want/need to do is fire up maps and GPS on our smartphones.

The trick is to download city or area maps before you leave home (you know where you’re going, right?) or do so when you get to your hotel wi-fi. You can now do this via a secret feature in the latest Google Maps app (make sure it's the most up to date); see How to save Google Maps offline - download maps for travel abroad.

iPhone users should consider Skobbler’s ForeverMap app, which gives you access to OpenStreetMap maps for almost all of Europe, installable/uninstallable maps for countries, states and cities and routes for pedestrians and cars, as well as an offline search for locations. Non-European destinations are in the works. Another great offline map app is Cities Maps 2Go, which has a bunch of free-to-download intercative maps from right across the globe.

Tip 10: Relax

Unless it's a busy business trip, just switch your iPhone or smartphone off for a while. Do you really need to check email morning, noon and night, access Facebook, look at Twitter, check the football scores. (OK, you probably need to check the football scores...)

EU regulation caps data roaming charges

New EU Legislation that came into effect on 1 July 2010 stated that “Mobile Operators will cap what they charge for data services when customers are abroad. Operators will keep customers adequately informed of the charges that apply for data roaming services".

This forces mobile carriers to cap the cost of data roaming to €50 (O2 has converted this to £40, Vodafone £43, Orange £44, Three £43).

From 1 July 2013, 1MB of data – equivalent to browsing five web pages or downloading 40 emails – will be capped at €0.45 (38p) within the EU. Calls made by British travellers in the EU will cost a maximum of €0.24 (20p) a minute, or €0.07 (6p) a minute to receive one. Text messages are €0.08 (7p) each.

No one can be charged more than €50 (£43) in one billing period, over their normal monthly contract.

While these charges were expected to fall further in 2014, the EU now plans to ban them altogether – EU bans mobile roaming charges. Consumers will be able to use their smartphones and tablets across Europe for the same price they do at home.

O2 says that a default £40 limit will be built into all tariffs. Customers will receive a text when they start to use data abroad to let them know they will not be charged more than £40. There is a bar set at 50MB. Once this has been reached data roaming will stop.O2 also offers an Opt Out where customers who do not want a cap on their data usagejust need to call customer services and ask for the cap to be removed.Data roaming charges for all the above options remain at: £3/MB (EU) and £6/MB (Rest of the World).

Orange Pay Monthly customers will be alerted by SMS when they have used 8MB of data, and again when they are approaching their 16MB allowance. Orange Pay As You Go customers will be alerted when they have used 6MB of data and again when they are approaching their 12MB allowance.

Three will send customers texts to let them know when they've reached 80 percent and 95 percent of its £43 limit.

The data limit is applicable in EU countries only, and can be removed by calling your mobile carrier.

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Comments

RingBe.Com said: This is great that there are people whotries to cut cost of roaming In our globalized environment - phone calls has never been this important Business isdone all over the world and people travel as much as never before In result no one wants to see their empty wallets Roaming bills are just too MUCH and roaming price has to be decreasedWe believe in one intelligent app that adapts user calls allowing to save up to 95 of all roaming calls

Henry said: Hi After a detailed research I have come through an innovation in technology Shaston Corp is active in telephony for over 20 years worldwide and constantly uses his experience to provide innovative new products and services that make use of your easiest and cheapest mobile phone while traveling to abroad Thus XXSIM is a SIM card allows travelers to use their mobile phones abroad at a fraction of the usual priceYou get free calls abroad in most countries or price without competition when you make a call from abroad sending text messages or access the Internet from anywhere in the world The XXSIM service works in over 190 countries XXSIM also offers special solutions tailored to customer needs SIM micro Corporate Account XXSIM provides telecommunications services to thousands of people around the world through various strategic partnerships with more than 650 global networks in over 190 countries XXSIM the card can be used in any standard GSM phone smartphone or broadband modem XXSIM customers use their mobile phones all over the world for a fraction of the usual price

beershark said: Good article but no mention of Windows Phone Do they we not go abroadIts worth noting that Windows Phone come with the great Nokia Maps which provides accurate and OFF-LINE sat nav Just make sure you download the relevant maps before you travelWindows Phone also has a Data Sense function which compresses browsing data to save data - valuable when roamingYou can also set the email client not to download the full mail and images which will also save data

merlin said: nice articlei found people in httpwwwmanynetscom to travel abroad

No name said: Wat if i buy a sim card from the country i wud goim sure those countries do sell pay n go sim with data servicethn use whatsappfacebook messengerto contact people back homen download the maps blah blah easy job donen y people have to buy apps from therecant they wait to get back thn download itlooks like people are frustating about this roaming chargesn if i go for business tripwud i be bothered about ROAMING CHARGES

Simon Gardner said: Norway is not and has never been in the EU

Veronica Mars said: a very useful article thanks However from my expirience I would advise to swap sim cards when you arrive to your destination because otherwise smth might go wrong you forget to turn roaming off happened to me a few times and the bills grow tremendously Im using a prepaid roaming sim card to have data service it offers good rates and a strong connection in most countries Mine is a travelsim purchased from their webpage

roaming said: partner roaming Partner keliling Dunia

Ammy said: The best way is to switch your SIM card to local one and link your regular homeland number to it using Roamer App - httproamerappcom I have personally saved 500 euros that way last trip Just purchased 15 EUR local card with 500MB after arrived And 5 hours of calls cost me 15 euros more In total it cost me 30 EUR instead of 550 in roaming

Emma said: I used a Maxroam SIM card when I brought my iphone overseas for cheap data roaming wwwmaxroamcom

Bernard said: For calls abroad we use i-Mobb the Free Roaming App available on Google Play and Apple storeFree inbound and outbound calls For the price of few minutes with your carrier you will have unlimited inbound and outbound calls with i-Mobb httpwwwi-Mobbcom 995 for 1 week if your UK US or Canada resident also for people from Japan Italy Netherlands France GermanyI used it in many different countries and I saved ton of money It works also on 3G network and the quality of calls inbound and outbound was really greatBernard

SimonJary said: Im not absolutely sure on this but I expect that it relies on the iPhone 5 not being locked to a carrier

Simon Jary said: Hi If you have the wi-fi signal indicator on your phone O2 or any carrier cant charge you If it shows 3G or 4G E or the little dot then you will be charged But wi-fi is either free or charged by the wi-fi provider - usually not your phone carrier

vrt said: Hahaha - This is very usefulThank you Only I shouldve read it before paying 395 euros for accesing roaming internet -

worldwidewayne said: Although the article is about iPhones if you take a Mifi device as described it will work with any phone any tablet and any laptop because it connects over wireless Its possible to rent Europe-wide SIM cards with data or SIMs for just one country these tend to have larger data bundles eghttpwwwcellhirecomproduc

Reamcphee said: Can I use a us version of I-phone 5 in the uk with a uk pay as you go sim card

Wegras said: Only the carrier can unlock an iPhone a local shop will hack it with all the attendant issues including invalidating the warranty All UK carriers offer unlocking

Rod75 said: Last year Vodafone offered a great European data roaming facility of 10 per month for data roaming of 25mb per day throughout Europe as well as their Passport service for sms and calls Just before the summer 2012 season they have removed this service and replaced it by a 3 a day all inclusive dataphonesms bundle This is great for the odd couple of days however for those of us that travel regularly can stay out for a month or more and do not use the phonesms side of the the bundle much and have built there info network on the iCloud this is a disaster My own experience is that this will increase the monthly cost of their subscription by 3 fold yes 300 Talk about being greedy My fixed contract will run in Aug so luckily I am on the look out for a better solution and it wont be Vodafone yet the main summer communications have been lost to me and all the time I spent the 10per month while based in the UK was completely wasted rip rip rip If anybody has a better solution please post here Or maybe all of us dumped on existing Vodafone users could complain bitterly and force them to run the two programs together suiting both the day trippers and the more serious travelers So far I have spent more than 3 hours in inter nation communications to their account service people and just got nowhere Do not fall for the Only 3day crap the average holiday of 14 days will then cost you 42 just to continue using your phone as normal and you still have to pay your monthly subscription on top

monepennie said: I used a mobile wifi whilst in Australia which was fantastic Telstra elite-highly recommended even though I was often in a rural area I could always connect to the internet I then went to New Zealand to visit friends for 10 days However I discovered that although my friends have broadband it is not wireless it is plug in and my new Ipad didnt have a connection point to plug into their broadband so I used my new iphone 4s to download my emails I have a small business and needed to keep up-to-date with enquiries I only opened business emails which were about 4 or 5 each day When I returned home to the UK I received my phone bill from Vodafone for 730 I still cannot understand how this huge amount has happened Apparently on the first day I arrived kin NZ the data cost was over 400 yet my total emails in any one day counting all the spam ones as well would be no more than 30 emails No-one at vodafone can help me discover how or what I did to run up this huge amount They just say it is the amount of data downloaded Apple cannot help either they say it is up to Vodafone It has been suggested to me that perhaps something was running in the background when I went onto the internet to download my emails I feel very upset that I do not understand how I have run up this colossal bill and very fearful of using my iphone if I go abroad againYour article suggests that the costs are controllable when using an iphone abroad I did not find this I would really appreciate any suggestions about how I might use my iphone when abroad to download emails without incurring costs like this Regards Monepennie

Nils Mehlhorn said: I am going in france tomorowand i want to know if uploading picture that i will take from my android phone will be charge